The buildup for the album had a pretty serious social media component that may be used as a blueprint for future album releases. Spears’s label, Jive Records worked with Crowd Factory’s Social Offer technology to spread the word as much as possible via social media and reward influencers.

Here’s how it worked: Visitors to Britney.com saw an offer to pre-order the album and share the offer with their friends. If fans got 10 or more of their friends to visit Britney.com, they got a 20% off promo code for the entire Britney catalog. (This differs from the Groupon model — in which a certain amount of people are required to take part and, if they do, everyone gets the discount.)

As a result of the offer, 30% of traffic to Britney.com came through Crowd Factory. Each sharer got six or more friends, on average, to visit the site.

Sanjay Dholakia, CEO of Crowd Factory, says the promotion worked because it joined two principles: deals and gaming. “We combined the two things,” he says. “It’s sort of a game.” Dholakia says it makes more sense to reward superfans in this case than to offer a deal for everyone a la Groupon. “This makes it more personal and more effective,” he says.

The group-buying deal wasn’t the only social media innovation related to the album. Prior to the release, Britney’s team released several teaser videos on YouTube — at 10 seconds or fewer — that got a total of more than 10 million views. As part of her social media makeover, Spears — who lags behind pop stars like Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne in Facebook fans — also recently launched a Tumblr site.